1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a power supplying system for a self-driving closure device for driving a closure member, such as a window glass, sun-roof panel, etc. of an automobile or the like, in order to open and close the window or the roof opening. More specifically, the present invention relates to improvements of a power supplying system for a self-driving closure device in which a driving source for opening and closing the closure device is moved together with the closure member.
2. Statement of the Related Art
A power window regulator, which has become popular in recent years, for use on, for example, passenger cars, will be described as an example of the conventional self-driving closure device of this type.
This type of self-driving power window regulator has been used to replace the conventional X-arm system or wire-driven system in which the driving source is fixed to the door side. Such a power window regulator excels in that since a driving motor is moved together with the window glass, the number of components used can be reduced substantially, and that effective use can be made of the inner space of the door.
Proposals for this type of self-driving power window regulator are disclosed in, for instance, Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 68284/1985 and Japanese Patent Laid Open No. 286485/1986, but the arrangement of Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 68284/1985 will be described herein by way of example.
As shown in FIG. 28, the power window disclosed in this publication comprises a glass holder 12 fixed to the lower end of a window glass 10, a reversible motor 14 fixed to the glass holder 12, a pinion gear 18 rotatively driven by the motor 14 via a worm gear 16, and a rack 20 fixed vertically to an inner panel of the door and meshing with the pinion gear 18.
In accordance with this power window, since a system is adopted in which the window is driven by the rack 20 and the pinion gear 18, the number of parts used is small. In addition, since only the rack 20 is fixed vertically to the inner panel of the door, it is possible to make effective use of the inner space of the door.
However, with the above-described self-driving power window regulator, since the motor 14, i.e., a driving source for opening and closing the window glass 10 which is a closure member, moves together with the window glass 10, a lead wire, i.e., a cable, for supplying power to the motor 14 must also be arranged in such a manner as to be capable of moving freely with the motor 14 in the interior of the door.
Since various mechanical components exist in the door interior in addition to the mechanism for the power window, if a flexible lead wire for connecting the motor 14 to a battery moves without any restriction, there is a possibility that a malfunctioning can occur in various mechanisms. In addition, in such a case it is possible that the power window fails to function due to the damage of the lead wire.
However, no power supplying system has hitherto been proposed which is capable of supplying power to a movable driving source such as the one used for this type of self-driving power window without any trouble. Partly due to this reason, this type of self-driving closure device has not been put to practical use.